saq

Recipes 

Your LHBS didn't have di-ammonia-phosphate?

Freezeblade

Recipes 

Funny, I was just at Home Brew Mark looking for DAP yesterday, usually they have it in stock, but they are currently all out I've got some sugar that I am carmalizing up as we speak. I used a squeeze of lime juice to provide the acid to invert, then I'm following the long proceedure of getting it to carmalize without DAP. Bring to 290, add water (it drops to 220ish here) let it get back up to 290, add water, etc. untill the color I want is gotten. I'm probably going to have to do a last-minute order of some dark candi syrup from AHS or something, due to lack of DAP.

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Primary:Russian River Redemption clone, Kelly's Melomel, Graham's English Cider 22-23
Clearing:Apple Wine
Aging:Public House Dry Stout, Procrastination Porter, Mr. Brown Ale, Westvleteren 12 Clone, Mead, Duvel Clone, Graham's English Cider 6-21, Belgian Draak Strong Ale, Fig Melomel, Acerglyn, Restorative Tonic Metheglyn

saq

Recipes 

I made my starter last night for the New World recipe. I'm brewing it just like I have it in the first post on Sunday. Then sometime a week and a half or so after I'll do the traditional.

KingBrianI

Recipes 

I'm cooking up my candi syrup right now. It's actually kind of fun. Anyway, I'll be brewing next week and had a couple questions. First, what does brew like a monk have to say about whirlfloc or irish moss or stuff like that. I always use whirlfloc but for this beer I'm considering not. Firstly, it will be so dark I doubt it would make a difference in clarity, secondly, there will be yeast in the bottle anyway to cloud it, and lastly, I always feel like it reduces head retention when I use it. Anyway, thats question one.

My second question has to do with pitching rates. The Mr. Malty pitching rate calculator says I need about a 2 liter starter with 2 smack packs. I only have one smack pack and was just going to step it up once. How do I calculate the volume of the first and second steps? I'd like to slightly underpitch, in order to bring out more of the yeast characteristics, but not underpitch by so much that attenuation suffers. Thanks!

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I'm too lazy and have too many beers going to keep updating this!

remilard

Recipes 

Couple of options here.

1. Use the Mr. Malty calculator to figure out the size of starter you need to produce the equivalent of 2 smack packs. That is your first step, then your second step is the 2 liter starter.

2. Use the Mr. Malty calculator to figure out any arbitrary two steps you want, although #1 is the most convenient.

3. Wyeast has a starter calculator for homebrewers that lets you enter information for two steps all at once. Not as many options as the Mr. Malty calculator though (plenty of options for your situation).

I usually go with #1 in a similar situation.

Bokonon

Recipes 

I think I've figured out what I'm going to do, but still haven't worked out the exact numbers.

I'm using 11.5 gal batch in beersmith for my calculating now, but that might get adjusted when I look over my old big brew notes.

I'm going to end up steeping some of the "new world" specialty grains in a different pot and then add that "tea" to one fermenter that will be the "new world" fermenter. The other will just get the normal wort.

I'm going to do my sugar additions a few days into the ferment and I'm planning on 2lbs of homemade dark and 1lbs of table sugar in each fermenter. Actually I might add the table sugar right into the boil kettle to let it carmelize a bit.

Depending on how they turn out I might end up blending a .5-1 gal of each batch into a different set of bottles.

I'll be brewing tomorrow unless something comes up

jkarp

Recipes 

I just happen to be brewing up a 3 gal batch of my westy 12 recipe tomorrow (sorry, not part of the swap), and I always brew it with a 3L starter of a westy harvest. To get the 85+% attenuation Westvleteren sees in the 12, you want to pitch a LOT of yeast and allow it to heat up.

saq

Recipes 

The monks don't use any whirflock, the 10 week "lagering" phase @ 50f clears out the beer. They say they lose an average of 8% of the beer due to this fining process. I'm not putting any whirflock in.

For MrMalty, first off make sure your beer stats are in (OG @ volume) and then set the slider is all the way over to the right, that assumes one smack pack/vial.
Also be sure to check how you are making your starter (simple starter, w/o2, continuous aeration, shaken, stir plate).
Your starter is going to want about 48 hours before its totally done. Without a stir plate you are going to need a BIG starter, like 6 liters if just shaking. A stir plate goes a long way towards making good beer!

saq

Recipes 

Read another important tidbit in BLAM last night, Westvleteren does not let the ferment temp rise above 84. So 82-84 is our target temp. He also states that if you try and cool the ferment temp too much the yeast can crash and slow way down and stop fermenting.
I guess its better to let ferment temp rise slow and err on the side of caution. I'll start with a 70f ambient temp in my fridge and see what kind of delta there will be, and then rise up some and get it locked in at 82f.

KingBrianI

Recipes 

Don't get me wrong, I've made plenty of starters, and use the Mr. Malty calculator for every one. I was just inquiring about how best to calculate the step-up. With the slider all the way to the right, it was still calling for 2 packs. I ended up doing a one liter starter in order to get the cell count up to 200 mil, then I'll decant and add 2 liters more wort to get the cell count up to the 300-something mil it recommended. The one liter starter has been spinning away on the stir plate since yesterday.

EDIT: Billions, not millions I mean.

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I'm too lazy and have too many beers going to keep updating this!